After ploughing (Zimmer-framing?) my way through several hundred songs about old age, I don't know about you but I need a dose of euphoria – I'm talking ecstasy, only the feeling, not the rave-generation pill. So this week you are all invited, young and old, to nominate songs that celebrate or capture, well, rapture and its many near-relations: excitement, elation and sheer incandescent joy.

But first, the old age A-list (and the column that discusses it): Frank Sinatra – It Was a Very Good Year; Peter Hammill – Autumn; 10cc – Old Wild Men; Randy Newman – Mikey's; Gladys Knight – The Way We Were; Dexys Midnight Runners – Old; Neil Young – Old Man; Danny Wilson – Ruby's Golden Wedding; Jimi Hendrix – 51st Anniversary; Abba – When All Is Said and Done

And now, let us creak our way to the B-list:

Leonard Cohen – Because Of

Written when he was 70, this finds Len as mordant as ever, and still being generously, as he sees it, allowed to gaze upon a naked woman as she bends over his bed. "Look at me, Leonard," she says. "Look at me one last time." It also suggests a future Readers recommend: songs in which artists mention themselves by name (first noms: "Jesus, this is Iggy" and "So this is Phil talking").

Sammy Davis Jr – Mr Bojangles

Frequently nominated, this finally gets a placing for its moving portrayal of an ageing song-and-dance man. And it's got a poignant dog reference, precluding the need in the playlist for, say, Fred Eaglesmith's He's a Good Dog.

Mary Hopkins – Those Were the Days

Did this UK No 1 from 1968, which was produced by Paul McCartney and sold eight million copies worldwide, anticipate the nostalgia for a younger, more innocent time induced by Altamont, the Manson murders and the death of Brian Jones in 1969? Probably not. Nifty tune, though.

Clive Dunn – Grandad

It was written by Herbie Flowers, who played bass on Lou Reed's Walk On the Wild Side and David Bowie's Space Oddity. Dunn was only 50 when he recorded it but looked like a doddery pensioner on Top of the Pops.

The Beach Boys – A Day in ihe Life of a Tree

Brian Wilson cornered the market in loss and regret (see Caroline, No and, well, most of Pet Sounds, really), but this is the only song we know of that he wrote about a wistful, dying tree.

Bill Withers – Grandma's Hands

Gil Scott-Heron's jazzy version was cool, but Withers made the list because he wrote about his own gran. It keeps Elvis Costello's Veronica off the playlist because as detailed studies of old ladies go, this wins (grandma's) hands down.

George Harrison – When We Was Fab

The Beatles were already looking forward to the day when they'd be looking back, as far back as 1967's When I'm 64, but this one from 1988 felt like a truer evocation of that where-does-the-time-go feeling.

Nas – Can't Forget About You

Based on a sample from Nat King Cole's Unforgettable, this is lovely, if indeed you can imagine Nas sitting on his porch, straw hat on, cold beer in hand, bragging to his grandkids about "how life is golden". Even harder to imagine: Kelis, there on the porch with him.

Pulp – Help the Aged

See that doddery old Clive Dunn-alike snoring on that park bench with dribble on his chin? He was once a pissed-up, glue-sniffing hoodie just like you.

The Byrds – My Back Pages

Dylan's Not Dark Yet seemed a bit obvious, so I chose one of his earlier tracks, given a jangle makeover in 1967 by McGuinn and Co. Weird how absorbed by the idea of the passage of time rock'n'roll was, even in its infancy – or rather, given that this was written in 1964, early adolescence. Altogether now: "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."

Here's a Spotify playlist (RR: old age by Paul Lester) with all 20 tracks.

Back to excitement, which should be an easy, not to mention exhilarating, topic. As I say, think euphoria – but we don't want to condone narcotic abuse, so it should be songs about natural highs although there might be some tunes that evoke joyous emotion-bursts of more ambiguous provenance, if you catch my drift. Previous Readers Recommends have included songs about adolescence and coming of age, as well as joyous songs and optimistic songs (check the Marconium, some were long enough ago for there not to have been a B-list), so really this week the focus should be on the feeling itself, the abstract adrenaline rush you get at random moments. And it might be hinted at rather than spelled out – take New Order's True Faith, the first line of which goes, "I feel so extraordinary, something's got a hold of me". Ironically, or sardonically, or surreally, the group who invented Mancunian miserabilism chose to illustrate the sensation with a video featuring bizarrely costumed men slapping each other's faces. Ah, the mystery of ecstasy.

Anyway, just enough space to say thanks to everyone for their great contributions on the subject of old age, and to tell you that the bound-to-be exciting excitement playlist will be chosen by Rob Fitzpatrick.